Working environment
Work-related accidents & sick leave
During the year Perstorp has continued to work on reducing sick leave and the number of work-related accidents. The new scheme for continuous improvement, Perstorp Performance System, focuses sharply on safety. The behavior-based safety program, Take Care, is a key com ponent.

Sick leave throughout the Group remains at a low level, 2.5 % (2.4 %),but the number of accidents in the workplace that resulted in absence from work increased slightly to 14 (11).

Physical fitness
To promote good health and job satisfaction, strengthen team spirit and reduce sick leave, all Perstorp employees shall, to the most possible extent,have access to opportunities for improving physical fi tness. The production site in Perstorp, for example, has a gym, a group fi tness session and a sports centre for ball sports and exercise bikes.

Company healthcare services
External suppliers provide company healthcare services to Perstorp,meaning that the service provided varies at the different production sites.In addition to vaccinations and health checks based on age and working environment, great importance is attached to preventive measures that involve ergonomics and stress management. To help people get back to work after illness, swift rehabilitation measures are off ered, adapted to individual requirements.

Product safety
Work on product safety in 2009 focused on the extensive preparations required for registration of Perstorp’s products in accordance with the EU’s REACH program – Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals. The first registration phase for produced and imported chemical substances (over 1,000 tons per year) shall be completed in 2010.

As part of REACH registration, producers shall explain how chemicals are used safely. Risks associated with the properties of the chemicals shall be compared with exposure during use. Safe use involves also the use of Personal Protection Equipment, PPE.

In 2009 Perstorp communicated intensively with customers and suppliers to ensure that Perstorp’s products, and the raw materials used by Perstorp,can be handled safely in future.

Perstorp is also active in a number of consortiums and so-called SIEFs (Substance Information Exchange Forum) in which companies that must register the same substance work together to produce documentation to ensure correct registration. Perstorp has chosen to take complete responsibility for producing registration information for the products where the company is the sole producer in Europe.

Alongside REACH, legislation is being introduced concerning Classification Labeling and Packaging (CLP) based on the UN’s Global Harmonized System (GHS). Th is governs how chemicals are classified and labeled. CLP/GHS resulted in Perstorp intensifying work in 2009 on the implementation of a completely new system of symbols for chemical substances. This work will be completed in 2010.

Training in the environment, health & safety
In 2009, 3,800 participants completed 30,550 hours of training.